Tag Archives: World Domination

With the busy business of Conflux and the CSFG AGM now behind us, it’s time to celebrate the wins, the milestones and the culmination of grand schemes that take us ever closer to our perhaps-overshared secret goal of WORLD DOMINATION!

In other words, here’s what our lovely and brilliant members have achieved over the past few months that they would like to share with the world.

Novels

It’s a pretty huge deal to get a publishing contract, so we’re very pleased to have not one but two members with exciting book deals to announce:

Sam Hawke has taken the first step toward an exciting publishing debut with a two book deal with Tor. Her first novel, City of Lies, is the first book in The Poison Wars epic fantasy series. Here’s the official Tor announcement! And here’s what Sam had to say over at her blog: My Best Boring Story (hint: it’s not boring, it’s super exciting!)

Zena Shapter has announced the sale of her new novel Towards White to IWFG Publishing. (Here’s the press release) And as if that were not enough,just this week Zena launched the middle grade science fiction novel Into Tordon (co-written by 9! authors under the name Z. F Kingbolt) from Midnight Sun. Check it out!

Leife Shallcross has a story called ‘Breathing’ in this month’s Aurealis #95 (which went out to subscribers as I was writing this post, so consider it hot off the presses!)

Zena Shapter‘s had a busy few months. As well as her novels, her story ‘Made’ is about to appear in the anthology Let Us In Volume 3 from Time Alone Press. As well as that, her story ‘Let the Tempest Hold Me Down’ has been included in the new collection of stories Sci Phi Journal, Q1 2016: The Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy (Volume 1).

GUFF is the Get Up and Over Fan Fund. This fund sends a delegate to a major convention (sometimes to more than one) at the other side of the world.

Jukka Halme came to Australia early in 2016, representing European fandom. CSFG’s own Gillian Polack represented Australasia at Loncon, Liburnicon and other conventions in 2014.

This year, GUFF is selecting a delegate to travel to WorldCon 75, which will be held in Finland (9-13 August 2017). The length of the trip varies from year to year, and winners often visit fans before or after the WorldCon.

Delegates are chosen by fans, through a competitive ‘race.’ The first stage of this is nominations, followed by voting. Nominations are now open for the northbound race. They will remain open until17 November 2016. Anyone active in fandom who lives in in Australasia may nominate.

To stand, you need three Australasian and two European nominators (who will each need to confirm their nominations), a platform of no more than 100 words and a non-refundable sum of £15/€20/AU$25 as a guarantee you will attend the 2017 Worldcon if you win.

Again, if you’re not sure who would be appropriate to nominate you, talk to Gillian Polack. If you’re not certain that you’re eligible or have other questions, again talk to Gillian (see below for contact details).

Voting will run from the moment nominations close until 1 April.

Once the winner has returned home, they take over shared administration of the fund for two cycles (one southbound and one northbound, in this case), complete their trip reports, and share the task of replenishing the fund for the next round.

For more information:

The GUFF Site: More information about the fan fund in general, its history and where to buy trip reports by previous delegates. (James Shields’ report is an excellent place to begin, as he explains the way the fund works and how the delegate fits within it as well as telling of his Australian adventures).

Did you guys even realise it was 2015 already? FEBRUARY 2015. That’s only 320 days away from 2016.

AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SO FAR?!?!

If the answer is ‘Not as much as I’d like’, then our February meeting is for you.

(If the answer isn’t that, you should still come anyway. We need more friends to feel good about ourselves and there will probably be biscuits.)

The first meeting of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild for 2015 will be about goal setting – what it is, how to do it, how not to do it and if it’s really worth doing in the first place. You might even find out about some goals you didn’t even know you had. It will also be your first chance in the new year to catch up with all your writing friends and feel the warm, socks-straight-from-the-dryer glow of being surrounded by people who love the same things you do and are willing to admit it.

When: 7.30pm, Wednesday 18 February

Where: The ACT Writers Centre at Gorman House in Braddon.

Bring: $10*. It’s the new year, so your membership is due.

See you there!

Leife (President) & Kim (Vice-President)

*If you don’t bring $10, we will probably still let you in and maybe even offer you a biscuit. But your name will go into the Treasurer’s Little Black Book and he might stare at you pointedly on occasion throughout the evening.

CSFG’s most recent Writers of the Future Contest winner, Shauna O’Meara, has been interviewed at the Sputnik’s Orbit blog, about liking spiders, winning at Donkey Kong and being able to warble like an Australian Magpie, among other matters of grave importance. Oh, and writing.

To Kaaron Warren, whose story “The Human Moth” is shortlisted for Best Horror Short Fiction and whose story “Air, Water and the Grove” is shortlisted for Best SF Short Fiction, and Ian McHugh, whose story “Cold, Cold War” is listed for Best Fantasy Short Fiction at the 2013 Aurealis Awards.

Upcoming Workshops and Courses

How to Know Yourself as a Writer with Zena Shapter
Mossman Community College, Spit Junction, Sydney
10am-3.30pm, Saturday 29 March